A study published online in the journal JAMA Surgery suggests that patients whose surgeons have large numbers of unsolicited patient observations in the 24 months prior to a surgical procedure may be at increased risk of complications. 

The researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 32,125 adult patients who underwent inpatient or outpatient operations at one of seven academic medical centers. They found that 3,501 (10.9 pecent) experienced a complication, including 1.754 (5.5 percent) surgical and 2,422 (7.5 percent) medical complications. The researchers noted that prior unsolicited patient observations for a surgeon in the preceding 24 months were significantly associated with the risk of a patient having any complication, any surgical complication, any medical complication, and readmission. Compared with patients whose surgeon was in the lowest quartile of unsolicited patient observations, the adjusted rate of complications was 13.9 percent higher for patients whose surgeon was in the highest quartile. Learn more... or Read full article...